


Collide

by K1mHeechu1



Category: EXO (Band), NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Anxiety, Aromantic Character, Asexual Character, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Opposites Attract, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Romance, Slow Burn, augustbreak2020
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:09:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25661131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/K1mHeechu1/pseuds/K1mHeechu1
Summary: Johnny just wanted to enjoy his last year at Uni and make memories for life.He didn't ask to fall in love with the angel that lived across the street.Taeyong just wanted to spend his last year at Uni holed-up in his room with his computer.He didn't ask to have his world turned upside down by a giant with a gentle smile.Or: Johnyong falls in love. Their crazy friends are there for the ride.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Kim Junmyeon | Suho, Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Liu Yang Yang, Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Qian Kun, Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung, Kim Jungwoo/Moon Taeil, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Wong Kun Hang | Hendery, Lee Taeyong/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Mark Lee/Nakamoto Yuta, Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le, Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas/Xiao De Jun | Xiao Jun
Comments: 14
Kudos: 76
Collections: K-Ficcer's Works





	1. Morning View

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!! I'm joining this 31-days-of prompts challenge for the entire month of August, and here's the first one!  
> The prompts will be listed as chapter names!!
> 
> I hope you like it and I'll see you tomorrow!!

There were very few things Johnny liked more than moving back into a dorm room.

As a fourth-year student, it would be the last time he would be moving into a new room, with a brand new roommate. 

Haechan had messaged him pretty quickly after the room assignment had been mailed out and judging by their talks, they would most likely get along just fine. Johnny had gotten pretty lucky with his roommates for the past 3 years and he hoped this year would be the same. He wanted one last nice roommate before he graduated and started working on getting his Master's, which would mean he would be staying either in a single or off-campus.

"Hi Baekhyun-Hyung, Junmyeon-Hyung! How was your summer?" Johnny greeted them as we walked into the dorm building.

"Far too short." Junmyeon, the graduate assistant, answered, before dropping his head to rest on the paper-covered table in front of him. The other two snorted.

"Hi, Johnny! We had a lovely summer, thank you for asking! We spent a month in Thailand and it was absolutely amazing! Myeonnie is just grumpy because we had to move into the rooms at 5 in the morning to get all ready for everyone." Baekhyun answered with a smile, and then pried the folder his boyfriend's head was resting on away from him. "You're one of the first ones to arrive, actually. Did you talk to your roommate already?" He asked as he perused the list of room assignments to get the room number.

"Yeah, he seems nice. First-year political science major, which sounds great because I can help him if he needs it." 

Baekhyun nodded happily, before handing Johnny his key. 

"That's great! Well, since you've been actual sunshine helping Myeonie not kill anyone for the past three years, and you arrived really early, you get one of the big rooms! Lucky you!" 

Johnny inspected the key before looking back up. 

"Thank you! Ok, I'll head up to start unpacking. If I'm done and my roommate hasn't arrived, I'll come back down and help you guys if you want."

Junmyeon lifted his head up and looked at him.

"Thank you, John. Just entertaining Sehun for long enough to keep him from mentally scarring any poor first-years like he did last year will be tons of help."

"Gotcha, Hyung! I hope you don't get too many overbearing parents this year!" Johnny waved goodbye before heading for the lift, fighting to fit his two suitcases and backpack in it. He chuckled as he heard Baekhyun scolding Junmyeon to 'do your damn job, I'm not the GA, I'm the GA's boyfriend, I'm not getting paid to do this'. He pressed the button to the fifth floor and waited for the doors to close. 

  
  
  
  


* * *

* * *

  
  
  
  
  


"Please tell me you'll at least come out of your room and go out with us for lunch," Doyoung begged as he stared at Taeyong hanging fairy lights over his bed with double-sided tape.

"I need to clean the kitchen first, Doyoungie, there's no way our cutlery is going in those cupboards until I disinfect them." 

Doyoung groaned, knocking his head against the wall repeatedly in frustration.

"Fine. But you're going to dinner with us. No buts. It's the first day of your last year, Hyung, Kun-Hyung and Yuta-Hyung are not going to let you stay inside all year again."

"I can still try," Taeyong muttered as he plugged the fairy lights on to check they were working.

Doyoung sighed, giving up.

"I'll come to check on you in a few hours, okay? I'm going to try and find Jaehyun and see if he needs help with his things."

"Yeeeees, go, have fun with your boyfriend, I'll be fine."

Taeyong let himself fall onto the chair, letting his forehead rest on the cool wood of the desk.

He really wished he could be a regular student, go out, socialise and have fun, but...

He had thought about it for three years already, there was no need to make his mood worse by thinking about how fucked up his head was. He still needed to do a lot of things around the dorm so that everything would be clean and nice when Ten arrived and Doyoung came back so they could organise their kitchen things together, and Taeyong needed to start working if he wanted them to be fully moved in and ready to face the year by the next morning.

  
  
  


But maybe resting for a few minutes wouldn't hurt?

  
  
  
  
  


* * *

* * *

  
  
  
  
  
  


"Johnny-Hyung?" 

Johnny dropped the book he was trying to put on top of the shelf and turned around in a second. A small, orange-haired boy stood in the door, suitcases behind him as he stared at Johnny with curious eyes.

"Holy shit, you almost gave me a heart attack!" Johnny joked, "Haechan, right?"

"Yes! Nice to meet you, Hyung! Please take care of me!"

Haechan looked so cute and innocent, standing there while hugging an oversized Snorlax plushie to his chest.

_'Damn it. Taeil will murder me if I adopt another kid,'_ Johnny inwardly cried, _'But he looks so soft. Must protect.'_

"Come in, come in! Is that everything you have?"

"No, I have two more boxes but they didn't fit in the lift with my suitcases so I left them downstairs with the GA to drop these here." Haechan walked inside the room, setting his Snorlax down on top of the empty desk and looking around. "Woah, this room is far bigger than I thought."

"We got one of the big ones, they're really coveted by returning students," Johnny laughed, "Floors one to four are older and the rooms are smaller, but the fifth floor used to be common rooms for studying and things like that until they turned it into rooms about five years ago, like a decade later than the rest of the building, so the rooms are bigger and the fixtures are newer, which is really cool."

"It is!" Haechan nodded, smiling widely.

"Want me to help you with your things?"

"Oh, no, Hyung, don't worry, I got this! I'll go get my boxes and then I'll come back to unpack!" 

Before Johnny could say anything else the other boy had run out of the room and sprinted down the busy hallway and out of his sight.

Johnny laughed softly, shaking his head. He had a feeling he wouldn't get bored with that one.

He sat down on the desk he had chosen for himself and stared out the window, looking at the building located in front of his, looking around for any interesting window decorations anyone could've put up already. 

And suddenly, his heart stopped. He couldn't remember how breathing worked.

There, fourth floor, third window.

The most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

There was no way that being was human.

Johnny was looking at someone so perfect and ethereal, he could find no logical explanation for their existence. 

That had to be an angel, there was no other explanation.

Johnny couldn't tear his eyes away from the other boy.

  
  
  


And then brown eyes locked with his. 

  
  
  
  
  


He closed the curtains in panic, instantly groaning in shame for being caught being a creep.

  
  
  


_ 'It's not even midday and you already fucked it up. Welcome to your last year at Uni, Johnny Seo.' _

  
  
  
  



	2. Selfie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!!!   
> We're meeting new characters today, I hope you guys like it!!  
> See you tomorrow!!

"Hyung, do we really need to label drawers?" Ten whined as he passed Taeyong more clear tape.

"Yes, Tennie, we do. This way, it's more organised." Taeyong stated, grabbing the next label and stretching his hand for Ten to give him more tape.

"Can't I switch with Doei? He can help you with labels and I'll help Jaehyun with the curtains."

A snort was heard from the living room, where Doyoung stood on a chair as Jaehyun helped him change the generic blue drapes that came with the dorm for the sheer white ones they had bought the previous year after the blue drove them insane three months into the school year.

"Keep labelling, midget, there's no way you can do this. There's a reason why it's Jae and I doing this and it's because we're over 175."

"Ru~ude" Taeyong said in a sing-song voice as he finished setting all cutlery in its respective drawer. Doyoung rolled his eyes.

"Shush, Hyung, you're normal-sized, not a midget."

"I know where you live, Kim Doyoung."

"We sleep in the same room, idiot. Of course you do."

"Children, please stop fighting," Taeyong sighed, turning around as he stood up, "Jaehyunnie is the only one here not being an idiot."

Jaehyun beamed at him as he jumped off the chair he was standing on.

"Thanks, Hyung!"

"Hyung, he dumped his roommate to come hang out with his boyfriend, he totally doesn't count." Ten whined.

"My roommate dumped me for his boyfriend anyway, so it's not like I abandoned him." Jaehyun threw himself onto the sofa, patting the spot next to him for Doyoung to sit on. "Jungwoo came in, dumped his things on top of his desk, told me he was going to his boyfriend's apartment and then disappeared. We literally talked for two minutes before he disappeared. The weirdest roommate I've had so far, and I roomed with Seungsik-Hyung last year. He used to sleep-walk. At least this might mean I'll have the room to myself most of the time?"

"You're disgusting, I hate you. All taken people suck." Ten moaned before faceplanting onto the bean bag he had placed next to the coffee table. Taeyong patted his back as he walked past him to sit on the armchair that was under the window.

"You're just jealous because you're single," Doyoung stated, running his fingers up and down Jaehyun's hand.

"I JUST WANT A CUTE FLUFFY BOY TO SNUGGLE AND LOVE IS THAT A CRIME!?"

  
  
  
  
  
  


* * *

* * *

"Do you think he'll like us?" Jeno bit his lip, scooting down to get more comfortable where he was lying on his bed as Jaemin fixed the pillows on his own. "I wish Channie could've roomed with us."

"We'll be fine, Nono. He has his own room, so we can just simply not talk to him if he turns out to be a homophobe or something."

Jaemin sat down on the mattress and smiled at Jeno. He leaned down to kiss him softly, making him hum in agreement.

The sound of a door opening startled them, making them jump up and stare at each other with wide eyes. Jaemin combed through Jeno's hair with his fingers and nodded before grabbing Jeno's hand and guiding him out of the room.

They found their roommate standing in the middle of the living room surrounded by bags.

"Hi!" 

The boy had started so badly at Jaemin's sudden greeting, he let out a squeak before covering his mouth with both hands.

"Sorry! He didn't mean to startle you!" Jeno slapped Jaemin's shoulder before smiling at his roommate. "Hi, I'm Jeno!"

"And I'm Jaemin. Sorry about that."

"I'm Renjun." The boy bowed slightly at them. "It's okay, it's just that the apartment was so silent, I didn't think anyone had arrived yet."

"Want help with that?" Jeno nodded at Renjun's luggage, "We already finished unpacking."

"Sure, that'd be great!" 

Renjun smiled brightly at them before turning to push a bag out of the way and open his room door. 

Jeno and Jaemin shared a look. They knew what the other was thinking.

They were fucked.

  
  
  


* * *

* * *

"So, do you know anyone other than me already or are you going in blind on the first day?" Johnny asked as he helped Haechan flip his mattress around. 

"Oh, my best friends from high school are here as well! They're rooming together with someone else in one of the apartment-style dorms in that building." Haechan pointed out of the window at the building across the street. "I wanted to room with them but it was paying for the single in their apartment or having money to do shit during the year so I just came here instead. Dorito?" He offered Johnny the bag as he munched on the snack he had produced out of thin air.

"No, thanks. That's cool, your friends being here. I was completely alone until I made friends when classes started, no one from my school came here."

"Jaemin is majoring in public relations and Jeno doesn't know yet, but he thinks he'll go for dance."

"Nice! I'm meeting some friends for dinner if you want to come. You can totally invite them and they can bring their roommate if they want to. We tend to... collect people, to put it lightly."

"You mean you take in the stray first years so that they won't end up eating ramen alone in their room and sobbing?" Haechan laughed, giving his quilt one last time before deeming its placement good enough.

"Basically. Taeil-Hyung started it, he was my roommate during my first year and he took me under his wing." Johnny moved the chair out of the way to reach for the phone he was charging on top of his bed. "I roomed with Jungwoo during my second year and Taeil-Hyung roomed with Yuta, so we added them to the group. Last year, we added Mark, Lucas and Sicheng to our group. Now I'm adding you and whoever else comes with you! And also whoever else the others get, I guess."

"That's so cool! You have a lot of friends, Hyung!" Haechan exclaimed, excitedly bouncing around the room.

Yep, Johnny was totally adopting this one. He was ready to be a single parent.

"Want to take a selfie? I'll tag you in it." 

Haechan nodded, before freezing where he was standing.

"Wait! I need to check my hair! I can't look like a mess!" He ran into the bathroom, making Johnny chuckle fondly.

He had only known Haechan for a few hours, but he would die to protect the kid's happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking of adding bonus social media content for this au over on Twitter, please let me know if you'd be interested in seeing that!


	3. Yellow Flower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I BARELY made it with this one. Like, I seriously posted it at 11:59PM here.  
> Don't let me get that close again, please.  
> Anyway, hope you like it, and I'll see you tomorrow!

"HAS ANYONE SEEN LEON'S PENGUIN PLUSHIE!?" Lucas frantically asked as he ran down the stairs. 

"Lucas, stop running, you'll fall and break your neck," Kun stated, unimpressed, as he kept putting the groceries away. Xiaojun snickered from under the table, where he sat playing with the cat.

"It's here, I brought it down with me when Kun-Ge came back. Stop being a weirdo." Xiaojun scratched the kitten's ear, smiling at the purr he elicited. 

"Jun-er! Please don't bully me! I just want our son to have everything he wants! He loves his penguin plush!" Lucas let himself fall onto the floor next to Xiaojun, who rolled his eyes at his antics. 

"I've been living with you for a single month and the mere thought of having to stand your dramatic ass every day for the next year makes me fear for my sanity. I should've convinced Taeyong to move into an apartment with me instead. At least I wouldn't have to play Cinderella that way," Kun muttered under his breath, closing the fridge door and leaving the kitchen.

"One of these days Kun-Ge will kill you in your sleep and I'll wake up next to a corpse." Xiaojun giggled at Lucas' pout, bending down to kiss it away. "I don't want to be a widow before we get married."

"Kun-Ge won't kill me. He loves me," Lucas declared, scooting closer to Leon to pet his back, "Also, he needs me to reach the higher cabinets. All of you are too short to reach."

"Don't let Hendery hear you say that or he'll put sugar in your ramen again."

"Ugh, no, that was the woooorst!" 

  
  
  
  
  
  


* * *

* * *

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


"HEY DUDE! LOOK WHO I GOT AS MY ROOMMATE!" 

Haechan fell down from where he was standing on the bed trying to tape a dreamcatcher to the wall. Johnny caught him before he hit the floor.

"Yuta! What have we said about knocking before entering a room?" Johnny scolded his pouting friend, who looked like a sad puppy.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to! It was unlocked, though! Anyway, look at my roommate!" Yuta did jazz-hands at the door, and a smiling Sicheng poked his head in. "I got Winwinnie! Isn't this amazing!?" 

"Hi, Johnny-Hyung. Nice to meet you, Johnny-Hyung's roommate!" Sicheng smiled at them, ignoring Yuta's excitement.

"Hello! My name is Lee Haechan. first-year, Political Science! Nice to meet you!" Haechan greeted, making Johnny inwardly smile at his cuteness.

"Hi! I'm Dong Sicheng, third-year, dance, and this idiot-"

"I'm Nakamoto Yuta! Fourth-year of Med school!" Haechan's eyes widened. Johnny totally understood that reaction. No one meeting Yuta for the first time would ever guess his major correctly. 

"So, have you heard from Mark or Jungwoo? They're not answering my messages," Johnny asked, motioning at Sicheng to close the door.

"I checked Mark's Instagram stories and he looked like he was in Ikea with his new roommate, for some reason. And Jungwoo isn't answering my messages either, but neither is Taeil-Hyung, so I bet my stethoscope they're together."

"Are they good friends?" Haechan asked. 

Sicheng, Yuta and Johnny snorted in unison before laughing loudly.

  
  
  
  
  


* * *

* * *

  
  
  
  


Jungwoo sighed against Taeil's neck as he snuggled closer to him.

Taeil grinned softly at his cuteness, before raising his hand to run his fingers through Jungwoo's hair, feeling its silkiness under his fingertips.

"I missed you so much, Hyung," Jungwoo whined, lips tickling Taeil's neck, "You're not allowed to be away from me for so long again, okay?"

"Hmmm," Taeil lowered his hand to caress Jungwoo's naked back. "I missed you too, so much. Every second of it." Jungwoo moved back to stare into his eyes as Taeil spoke. "But the internship was such a great opportunity for me, baby. It was amazing and I learned so much, I feel far better going into my masters' thanks to all the knowledge I gained from it."

Jungwoo leaned in, kissing Taeil slowly, lovingly.

"I know, Hyung, I'm happy it was even better than you thought it was going to be. But the next time, take me with you, okay? I don't think I can spend an entire summer without you if you're across the ocean again."

"I promise. If I ever go anywhere for long periods of time, you're coming with me."

Jungwoo nodded resolutely, making Taeil smile wider, before scooting until his nose was buried in the crook of Taeil's neck again.

"I love you."

"I love you too, baby. Thank you for the welcome back flowers, you didn't have to." 

Right. The flowers.

That Jungwoo had gotten for Taeil.

The flowers that lay forgotten on the kitchen counter, as they had gotten... otherwise preoccupied.

He probably should go put them in water, shouldn't he? They had been pretty expensive.

"I wanted to. They're yellow irises. The florist said they mean wisdom, hope, and purity."

Taeil laughed.

"I get the wisdom and hope, but Woo-ah, I think purity was stretching it a little."

"Hey, just because I like to have sex with you doesn't mean I'm not pure at heart. Also, you're the best person I know, so I think it counts."

"Whatever you say, babe."

"I think I'll have to apologise to my roommate, though. I got your message as I was going into the dorm building, so I basically went up, dumped my stuff, said hi and ran away." Taeil laughed loudly at Jungwoo's words. "Oh well, he'll have the room mostly to himself most of the time, so I guess that'll make up for it. You moving off-campus was the best idea ever."

"I won't get a cat, Kim Jungwoo."

Jungwoo gasped at the betrayal.

"But Hyung! You need a fluffy companion, so you won't be lonely!"

"You said you'd be here most of the time. I won't be lonely, will I?"

"I take it back! I'm not going to come around anymore unless you adopt a cat!"

"I guess we won't be seeing each other frequently at all, then."

"If you adopt a cat, I'll... eh... I'll let you cuddle me to sleep any time you want!"

"You already let me do that, though."

Jungwoo pouted, knowing he had run out of arguments.

Alright, no problem.

Time to break the aegyo out...

If that didn't work, he wasn't over using sex as a bribe, but he was sure Taeil would give in before he had to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still haven't decided whether or not I'll do the social media thingy I mentioned last chapter, so let me know if you'd be interested!


	4. In My Bag

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapters were only supposed to be like, 200 words each, why am I making them longer and longer asfasdf Someone save me from myself.  
> I hope you like it, and I'll see you tomorrow!! ♥

"Welcome to Exo Planet, do you have a reservation?" 

"Hi, Jongin-Hyung. Sehun-Hyung didn't tell me you were working today."

"Johnny!" Jongin exclaimed happily. Johnny smiled at Jongin, who came out from behind the little table to give him a hug, "How are you? How was your summer? Table for 6?"

"Summer was great, Hyung. And we need a table for 12, actually, we kind of... picked up a few more people this year, I guess."

Jongin rolled his eyes.

"Of course you did. You do this every year, why am I even surprised at this point? Okay, follow me! I'm getting you one of the private rooms so you can be as loud as you want."

"Hyung, we're not loud!"

"I can see Yuta from here, Johnny," Jongin stated, ignoring the loud 'hey!' that came from the back of the group, "Just knowing he's here tells me you're all going to be loud as always."

"It's okay, thanks Hyung!"

  
  
  


"I'm not THAT loud, am I?" Yuta pouted, and Sicheng just stared at him.

"Yes, you are, Hyung," Jungwoo said with a smile as he played with Taeil's fingers. "When is the fresh blood coming, Johnny?"

"Please don't call them fresh blood, baby. It's creepy," Taeil sighed, and Johnny snorted.

"Haechanie said he was picking up his friends and their roommate and coming here as soon as they were ready. I already told them to tell Jongin-Hyung they're with us when they arrive. " Johnny decided on a piece of bread from the basket that sat in front of them and started munching on it. "I'll never understand why Kyungsoo-Hyung insists on putting bread baskets on the table when he knows people in this room are coming for the Korean barbecue."

"It's so that bottomless pits like Jungwoo and you don't become annoying while they get everything ready," Sicheng said as he stared at his nails with an eyebrow raised.

Jungwoo shrugged and stuck another piece of bread into his mouth.

"Is Mark coming?"

"He said his roommate needed to get some medicine or something like that from their room and they'd be here in about five minutes or something like that." Yuta sighed loudly and dropped his head on Sicheng's shoulder, who simply glared at him. Yuta ignored him. "I still haven't seen him! Do you think he's tired of me? I mean, I'm sure his new roommate is way cooler than I was and there's only so much I can do to keep his attention and what if-"

Everyone rolled their eyes, completely used to what they had named 'Yuta's Mark monologues'.

The door to the private room opened and Mark stuck his head inside. 

"Hey dudes, how are you doing?" He stepped inside with a smile and motioned to the door where a boy that looked way too young to be a first-year stood with a tentative smile. "This is my roommate Yangyang. Yangyang, these are Johnny-Hyung, Taeil-Hyung, Jungwoo-Hyung, Sicheng-Hyung and Yuta-Hyung." 

Everyone waved hello, and Sicheng, who had perked up and pushed Yuta off his shoulder at the new boy's name stared at him with hopeful eyes.

"Are you Chinese?" He asked. Yangyang smiled brightly.

"Yes! I am! Well, my parents are, I'm from Germany."

Sicheng said something in Mandarin that made Yangyang nod wildly before rushing to sit next to him. They started chatting excitedly, making the others look at them with fondness in their eyes.

Mark made his way around the table and sat next to Yuta, giving him a smile.

"Hi, Hyung." He leaned forward to plant a kiss on Yuta's cheek, making his brain short-circuit as he tried to say something back. "I missed you."

Yuta let out an unintelligible gurgle before grabbing Mark's hands and linking their fingers, resting them on top of the table.

"And the idiot still thinks Mark is going to dump him," Jungwoo muttered, making Taeil elbow him.

A soft knock on the door made them look in that direction and Jongin stuck his head inside.

"Hello there, I think I have the last of your Brady bunch." He opened the door wider, allowing Haechan to see Johnny and wave at him. "I'll tell Yeol-Hyung to start bringing your food now that your group is complete!"

"Thanks, Hyung!" Johnny exclaimed. Jongin gave him a thumbs up before walking away, "Hi, Haechannie! Did you have any trouble finding the place?"

"Hi Hyung! No, I didn't, it was really easy to find. Hello everyone, I'm Lee Haechan!" Everyone introduced themselves and Haechan sat down by Johnny's side. 

His friends, still standing by the table, quickly bowed at the rest.

"Hello, I'm Jeno."

"I'm Jaemin! We went to high school with Channie," Jaemin explained, taking a seat next to Haechan.

"I'm Renjun, I'm Jeno and Jaemin's roommate, nice to meet you."

Sicheng and Yangyang said something in Mandarin, making Renjun smile and nod. The other two motioned at him to sit down with them. Yuta and Mark moved a seat to the left, allowing Renjun to sit next to Sicheng, who looked ecstatic to be surrounded by fellow Chinese people, and the rapid Mandarin conversation started again.

"Well, we lost them." Jungwoo joked, and Johnny nodded.

"I don't think I've seen Sichengie that happy since he met Lucas last year, "Johnny pointed out and Taeil agreed.

Jeno sat down between Jaemin and Mark, nodding at the older boy with a big smile.

"Are you guys ready for your first day in hell?" Mark asked.

The three first-years went pale, eyes wide as they looked at each other.

"Mark, stop scaring the babies. May I remind you, you got lost fifteen times in the first week alone last year?" Johnny fired at him, as he patted Haechan's shoulder reassuringly, making Mark squeak and whine.

"Dude, that's low, you promised not to bring that up again!"

That would teach Mark to not mess up with his son.

  
  
  
  


* * *

* * *

  
  
  


"HAS ANYONE SEEN MY PHONE!?" 

Kun ignored the boy's loudness, made even louder as his voice reverberated inside the car, and gripped the steering wheel tighter, trying to calm himself down. He was THIS close to having two roommates instead of three.

"It's in my bag, Lucas. I knew you were going to forget it." Xiaojun rolled his eyes at his boyfriend, who smiled and stared at him like he had hung the moon in the sky.

Hendery gagged from the passenger's seat.

"Please don't make out in the back seat. I don't want to have to clean cum stains from it." 

"No one is cumming ON or IN this car." Kun forcefully said, counting to 500 inside his head. "And if all of you don't shut up and stay still in this very moment, I'll stop the car and make you walk the rest of the way there."

"Hey, don't be mean, Kun-Ge!" Hendery whined, pouting at him, "Doyoung-Ge, Jaehyun-Ge and Ten-Ge will be sad if we're not there."

Kun snorted.

"They had no luck making Taeyong-Ge join?"

"No," Kun sighed sadly, "They tried but you know how Taeyong is, so they gave up and made him promise to come to our house for lunch next weekend. You know he can't fight his urge to take care of people, so making him promise to cook was the only way to get him to agree."

"It's sad, I wish he'd go out more, he's so nice," Xiaojun said softly, head leaning against Lucas' shoulder. Lucas bent down and kissed his temple, trying to console him, and Xiaojun gave him a small, thankful grin.

  
  
  
  
  
  


* * *

* * *

  
  
  
  
  


_'I wish I could be like them,'_ Taeyong thought as he stared out of the living room window, lying on the sofa while hugging a Doyoung's bunny plushie, _'I wish I could go out and not think of anything else other than having fun and being with friends.'_

He stared as people on the street laughed, walking with their friend groups to go have dinner, hang out, go out for the night, maybe go clubbing.

Taeyong had never gone clubbing.

...

Well, no, that would be a lie. He had been to a club before, but he had never gone clubbing in the four years he had spent in Uni.

And even though part of him told him he wouldn't like it, because even if he hadn't been scared, he didn't like the smell of cigarettes and alcohol, and he wouldn't like being unable to dance because of the lack of space -If he danced, that is-, a voice in his head told him he was a freak, that he was not normal.

Because who in their right mind didn't like going out and getting drunk with friends while they were in their twenties?

That's right. No one.

He had spent his entire first year alone, forcing himself to go to class, get the books he needed from the library and get food from the closest cafeteria before locking himself in his room until he had to do it all over again.

He was lucky Doyoung had been sexiled a week into the first week of Taeyong's second year and had knocked on his door, awkwardly asking Taeyong, the notoriously asocial second-year, if he knew who he could talk to about getting a new roommate because his current one was an asshole. He still couldn't believe that the other had decided he liked Taeyong and wanted to befriend him.

He was lucky that Ten, who had been Doyoung's new roommate -Ten had been paired with a homophone and had instantly asked for a switch-, had decided he wanted to stick with them. Ten proceeded to introduce both of them -and later Jaehyun, whom Doyoung had started dating halfway through their first-year- to Kun, who had instantly decided he needed to mother Taeyong because Taeyong mothered everyone but allowed no one to take care of him. 

Kun had then decided to adopt Hendery, Lucas and Xiaojun, and they had imprinted on Taeyong like baby ducklings. Kun joked about how 'his sons' liked Taeyong more than they liked him. Taeyong still didn't know how to feel about that statement, to be honest, because it was obviously not true.

He was lucky that, even though he was awkward and shy, they still kept him around.

Taeyong couldn't understand how his friends hadn't gotten tired of him at this point when all he did was shut himself in his room studying and programming and have panic attacks thirty per cent of the times he had to leave the house to go to class.

He couldn't understand why they hadn't realised he was a lost cause, why they hadn't left yet.

  
  
  
  
  


A loud squeal made him look outside again. 

A tall boy giving a shorter, tinier one a piggy-back ride, twirling at random times as he walked, making the other laugh loudly. They went into the building opposite to his.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Taeyong wanted to know things. He wanted to know what it felt to have someone by his side, someone who would carry him like the tall boy had carried the tinier boy.

Taeyong wanted to understand things. He wanted to understand his friends' endless patience and the reason why they hadn't left yet. 

He was terrified of being alone. 

  
  
  


Taeyong looked around the dorm before burying his face in the bunnies' soft fabric.

Joke's on him. He was scared of being alone yet loneliness was all he knew.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the CC anon that told me to go for it, I'm going to try and do the social media bonus thingies (name is still a wip lol), so stay tuned for that!


	5. Wheels

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, look at this! I'm updating 30 whole minutes before midnight, what kind of miracle is this? Lol.  
> Anyway, I've decided I'll be uploading the social media snippets on Twitter, maybe tomorrow, so make sure to follow me there if that's something you're interested in!   
> See you tomorrow!

"Hi."

Jaehyun jumped in shock at the greeting, turning the lights on to find his roommate sitting on his own bed, dimly lit phone in his hand.

"Oh, hi. I didn't know you were here, "He answered, an awkward smile on his face.

"Yeah, I came back a few minutes ago." Jungwoo took a deep breath. "I'm sorry about this morning. It was kinda shitty of me to just dump everything here and run." He winced a little at his own actions. "It's just I hadn't seen my boyfriend in a very long time because he had this big internship overseas and he texted me he was back like, just as I was making my way into the lift. I sort of lost it and just wanted to see him as soon as I could."

Jaehyun laughed, giving Jungwoo a real smile.

"Oh, that's okay. It must've been hard. I didn't see my boyfriend for a few days before today and I missed him like crazy."

"Yeah, it was really hard. But he's back! And I'm happy about that!" Jungwoo grinned widely, "I guess I should introduce myself properly. I'm Kim Jungwoo, I'm a third-year Journalism major."

"Jung Jaehyun, third-year, English Lit."

"Oh, that's cool! Are you, by any chance taking creative writing this semester?"

"Yeah, I am! You as well?" Jungwoo nodded rapidly at Jaehyun's question. "Cool, maybe we'll be in the same class."

"That would be awesome!" A small chiming sound came from Jungwoo's phone, making him look down and sigh. "One of my friends, his room is two floors down, needs help fixing the shower they apparently managed to break already. I'll be right back!"

Jungwoo slipped shoes on and ran out of the room. 

Jaehyun shook his head. 

Maybe his roommate situation wouldn't be as bad as he thought.

Well, to be fair, almost everything was better than Seungsik's midnight acrobatics.

  
  
  
  
  


* * *

* * *

  
  
  
  
  
  


Everyone in the dorm was awake and in a good mood that morning, ready to face the first day of classes as best as they could. Doyoung sat on the sofa, staring at his phone with a dopey smile that could only mean he was texting Jaehyun. Ten was trying to get the knots out of the necklace he planned to wear that day, quite unsuccessfully. Taeyong was washing the dishes they had used for breakfast, humming under his breath.

Then, out of nowhere, they heard a loud beep.

"Is that the smoke alarm?" Doyoung asked, locking his phone.

Ten dropped the necklace on the table as he gave up untangling it.

"Not ours," Taeyong pointed out, nodding his head at the device.

A series of knocks on their door startled them, and Ten hurried to open. Taeyong peeked over his shoulder.

A small boy stood there, visibly stressed.

"Hi, I'm sorry, but could you help us? My roommate set off the smoke alarm and we don't know how to turn it off." Taeyong instantly melted at his panicked words, his inner mother hen coming out.

"Of course! Lead the way, we'll help you turn it off."

The boy relaxed a little, smiling widely at him.

"Thank you so much! I'm Renjun! We live right next door!" 

Taeyong and Ten followed him as he headed to the boy's dorm. Doyoung shook his head, grabbing his keys before following the other three next door.

Renjun's roommates seemed to be panicking just as badly as him. 

"Nono, who even microwaves a full egg? Why didn't you wait for me to wake up?" One of them said as he used a folder to try and fan the smoke away from the smoke detector.

"The internet said to microwave the egg for a minute, Nana!" The one apparently called Nono answered as he held his friend up by the waist so he could reach the smoke detector.

"I got help!" Renjun announced, and the other two looked at them with eyes full of hope.

"Hi, I'm Ten, these are Taeyong and Doyoung. Can I borrow a chair?" Renjun quickly fetched one, and Ten turned to look at Taeyong, who rolled his eyes and climbed on it.

"Okay, this is really easy to turn off, just..." Taeyong pried the cover off the device and pointed at a small wheel that stuck out of it from the side. "Turn this wheel until it clicks, and it will turn itself off. I guess the RA will call you guys or come to check everything's alright, but as long as you deactivate it within three minutes of it going off, it won't alert the fire department."

"Oh, thank god! You're our saviour!"

Taeyong jumped down from the chair, smiling softly at the boys.

They looked so young, Taeyong couldn't help but feel the need to take care of them.

"Ok, it's nothing, don't worry! Everyone sets it off at some point. In our case, last year, Ten forgot pancakes didn't take half an hour to cook." Ten glared at him, making everyone laugh.

"I'm Jaemin, and the idiot that tried to microwave an egg is Jeno." 

Jeno pouted at him.

"Don't be mean, I was trying to make you breakfast! I don't even know what went wrong!" Jeno whined as Jaemin petted his head.

"I don't even want to look at the microwave, Nono, how are we going to clean that up?" 

Doyoung took a look at the disaster that was still smoking inside the microwave and laughed. 

"I think I know where you went wrong, Jeno. You're supposed to crack the egg onto a plate or a mug and then microwave it. You put the entire egg, shell and all, inside."

Jeno looked at the floor in shame. Taeyong couldn't allow this cute boy to be so sad.

"We have leftover pancakes in our dorm, do you want to come over? I can tell you how to clean the microwave so that it comes off easily later." 

Jaemin smiled widely at Taeyong's words and looked at Renjun and Jeno, who nodded.

"If it's not too much bother, then we would gladly come over. Thank you so much!"

Doyoung looked at Ten. 

They were going to warn Kun about the three puppies Taeyong had adopted. 

They were always happy to see Taeyong being so carefree. They wished they could see it happening all the time. 

But baby steps were better than no steps at all.

  
  



	6. I love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!   
> I hope everyone's doing great, and that you like today's chapter!   
> Warning: There's a somewhat graphic depiction of a panic attack in the second scene. If you don't want to read it, skip to the final scene after the double horizontal lines.
> 
> See you tomorrow!

"On a scale from one to ten, how much do you think this class will suck?"

Johnny snorted, turning to look at the boy that had thrown himself into the seat to his right.

"Economic History of the World? Please, Minhyun, stop asking stupid things. You know I love anything to do with history, but I bet we'll be wanting to rip our hair out before the end of the month."

"I give it until the end of the week," Jonghyun said, appearing out of nowhere. He dropped a kiss on his boyfriend's cheek before sitting next to him.

"Maybe we're all being a little too negative and we'll end up loving it instead," Johnny suggested, trying to brainwash himself.

"Highly unlikely," Minhyun had stated, taking his laptop out and turning it on.

"There are worse classes we could be in right now," Johnny pointed out as he opened a new doc for the class, "My roommate is a first-year Political Science major and his first class today was Introduction to Maths with Pallavella."

The other two winced in solidarity.

"Okay, yeah, you're right. That class was a nightmare," Jonghyun stated.

"I was lucky enough I got Chan for Intro to Maths. You two were just unlucky." Minhyun stuck his tongue out at them, and they all snickered before shutting up when the professor entered the room.

  
  
  
  
  


* * *

* * *

  
  
  
  


Taeyong knew it was going to be one of those days when he had been unable to leave his room after getting changed.

Doyoung, Ten and him had sat down and chatted with Renjun, Jeno and Jaemin as the younger boys ate the leftover pancakes Taeyong had reheated before they had to leave or risk being late for their introductory classes. 

Taeyong had ushered Ten and Doyoung away when they had offered to help him with the dishes. Ten had to be at the studio and Doyoung had a meeting, while his first class of the day was at 4 in the afternoon, so it was only logic that he did the cleaning instead of them.

They had left two hours ago. 

Taeyong had finished cleaning and took a quick shower to get rid of the smell of smoke he was sure was only in his imagination but he could feel clinging to his skin and hair. He had gone to his room, put on the simplest outfit he had, just a pair of black jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt, gotten his things packed into his backpack, checked he had his wallet, headphones and phone-

And then, he had been unable to move.

He sat down on his bed, staring at the backpack he had set on top of his desk chair, and tried to force himself to leave the room.

He couldn't.

He couldn't do it. He couldn't leave the room.

How would he make it to class? There was no way he could go to class, he had asked all the people from his major he knew and no one else was taking the same elective class as him. 

He would be alone in a room full of strangers. He couldn't do it.

How would he make it through two hours sitting in a room full of people he didn't know?

He felt his breathing quicken and tried to force himself to stop thinking- it was just a class, goddammit, why was he having a panic attack over one fucking class? What was he, five and going to preschool for the first time, scared to let go of his mother's hand? 

He squeezes his hands into fists, before hugging his knees and burying his head into the scratchy fabric of his trousers. 

His chest hurt.

He couldn't breathe.

He tried to ground himself, tried to recall where he was. 

In his room. Safe. No one would hurt him here.

He closed his fists tighter, focusing on the painful feeling of his nails sinking into the soft flesh of his palms. He raised one of his arms and bit into his wrist, trying to snap out of it.

He was safe. Safe.

It was all in his head.

Nothing was going to happen. No one would judge him for being alone in a new class.

No one would mock him, talk about him or even look at him.

But what if they did?

What if someone found him so pathetic, they made it a game to befriend him, get him to trust them and then break him?

No. Nothing would happen.

He had to breathe.

Breathe, dammit.

His stomach churned as he tried to pace his breathing, but he ignored it. Nausea was the least of his worries right now.

He was alone.

No.

He was safe. He had friends that loved him, and he was almost done with his degree. 

Taeyong lowered his legs until they hung over the mattress, and stopped biting into his arm.

Taking a somewhat shaky but deeper breath, he forced himself to open his hands, wincing at the sight of the small crescent-shaped marks left where his nails had pressed against his skin. Only one was bleeding slightly, the rest thankfully had not been cut by his nails.

He used the sleeve of his shirt to dry the tears he could feel on his cheeks. He couldn't even remember when he had started crying.

Taeyong unlocked his phone, checking the time.

He still had enough time to get to class if he left within the next five minutes.

He opened the messaging app and told his friends he was going to class, emojis pouring in after his words. His friends knew him so well. He couldn't understand what he had done to deserve them.

Taeyong took a deep breath and grabbed his backpack, getting something from the front pocket and holding it tightly for a few seconds before shoving it in his pocket.

He was leaving right in that instant or he wouldn't be leaving at all.

  
  
  
  
  


* * *

* * *

  
  
  
  
  
  


"Look, I'm just saying we should totally go, it's going to be awesome and you know it," Yuta said, making Johnny roll his eyes at him.

"Yuta, why do you want me to go with you guys? Make it a proper date, you've been dating Mark for over eight months, bro, you can't keep dragging me with you, I'm tired of being the third wheel."

Johnny pushed his friend away, making him whine and push him back in retaliation.

"Not just you, asshole!" Yuta protested, "I'm talking about making this a group outing! We could invite the gang and get the kids to come as well. Also, I know that you sai-"

Johnny couldn't hear anything else Yuta was saying, his brain suddenly full of white noise as he saw the angel from the window walking down the street towards the bus stop. He kept his gaze down, staring at the floor instead of looking around until he looked up, gasped and started running, without noticing something had fallen out of his pocket.

Johnny stopped walking to stare at the angel run down the street and get to the corner just as the bus pulled into the bus stop. He took a few steps back, making Yuta stop and stare at him in confusion, before bending down to retrieve the... pink sewing tape measure? Yeah, that was what the angel had dropped without realising.

"What's that?" Yuta asked, looking at him like he had lost his mind.

"I don't know? That boy dropped it. I wanted to give it back but he's gone."

"Oh well, too bad. Let's go, Mark is waiting for me."

"Sure."

Johnny stared at the tape measure as he started walking, before clutching to it tightly.

He would keep it for now.

Maybe he would see the angel again and give it back to him.

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *pouts adorably*   
> If you like it, hate it, want to make suggestions or literally ANYTHING else... plz consider leaving a comment? It would help me a lot to know what you think about the fic so far  
> Thank you so much!!

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/K1mHeechu1) (plz, I need more Twitter friends! It'd be nice to have more people to talk to!), [Instagram](https://instagram.com/k1mheechu1/) and [CC](https://curiouscat.qa/K1mHeechu1)


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